14.040 - Hazardous Conditions

Effective Date: 11/19/2007

I. Hazards to the Public

A. Officers shall be alert for defects, damage, or obstructions to any streets, roadways, sidewalks, parking strips, or other installations or properties, the result of which may be dangerous or detrimental to public welfare.

B. This also applies to inoperative or impaired City utility installations, such as street lights out or obscured by trees, traffic signs down, damaged, or obscured by shrubbery, overhanging trees, or other objects, etc.

C. Some of the most common which require special handling are:

1. Fire Alarms.

a. Officers shall respond immediately to every fire alarm which they become aware of or are assigned to.

2. Wires Down.

a. Officers who respond to a call or otherwise come upon the scene of “wires down,” shall consider all wires to be energized and dangerous until proven otherwise.

(1) Telephone, fire alarm, trolley, and guideline wires may be in touch with high voltage wires at some other point, and such wires may carry lethal electric charges.

D. Officers discovering hazards shall take immediate action as soon as is practical by notifying the Communications Section of the nature of the hazard.

E. The Communications Section shall forward the information to the appropriate agency for corrective action.

F. If the hazard poses an immediate danger to the public, the officer or other authorized personnel, within the limits of available resources, shall safely maintain pedestrian and vehicular traffic control over the situation until it has been rendered safe by the appropriate agency, either in a temporary or permanent condition.

II. Hazardous Materials Incidents

A. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Emergency Response Guidebook should be consulted when responding to a Haz-Mat situation. The guidebook will help you identify and read hazard placards on transport vehicles. It will also provide you with information on the hazards of a particular material, and steps to take when responding to Haz-Mat incidents.

B. When responding to a hazardous materials incident, the first unit on-scene should:

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